Our childhood home backed onto meadows and woods and those were the days when you could ramble the countryside without a grown-up even at 8 years old and come back at dusk to a mum who wasn't the least bit worried. There would be a big gang of us from the village and older ones, including teenage boys we had secret crushes on (who I tried to impress with my BMX and Carla would impress with her dresses). For our picnic adventure we would have a basket or duffle bag with a humble tub of marmite sandwiches, an apple and flapjack and it would last until a few steps into the next field - 'how about here' we'd say and lay out a rug then scoff the lot. There was no glamour or style to our picnics in those days - apart from Carla's dresses of course!
These days when we have a family picnic it's done with passion and dedication, and we are well-practised in the art of picnicing! We each have our allocated recipes and picnicware collections and we amass with rugs and cushions, parasols and bunting.
Carla's daughter Sessi has her birthday on 1st July and on a July weekend we have 'Sessifest' which is a big family picnic, usually in Battersea Park.
I love a long lazy picnic - a perfect combination of food and the great outdoors, with no hurry. I always think a picnic at the very least has to include home prepared food in various tubs and a lovely big rug.
My speciality for picnics is Spinach & Feta Filo Parcels. The grown ups love them and it's great if the little ones tuck into them too. I use this Spanakopita recipe from the fantastic Souvlaki for the Soul, a food and travel blog by Peter who's a photographer too so the foodie pics are tantalising:
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| Spanakopita from Souvlaki for the Soul blog |
A family favourite is Carla's Slow Roasted Tomato Salad. Granny makes a good Fruity Cous-Cous and there's the family tradition of 'Sosmix' Sausage Rolls that we've been making since we were kids. Big bowls of strawberries are a must, as are cake stands overflowing with cupcakes and muffins.
Yummy! I could write forever about food and picnics so I shall continue with this theme on another post.
How about you to tell us your picnic memories, your favourite picnic recipes and picnic places - plus any pics too. Leave a comment below, email bekka [at] sistersguild [dot] com or use the contact form here
This is part of the Art of Living series of posts that bring you all the things we are passionate about and the things we discover in our lives as mamas.
In our Wednesday Woo blog post series we present a selection of things from the Sisters Guild Boutique.
We also have a Monday Makery with ideas for things to make yourself.
And for a glimpse behind the scenes of Sisters Guild we have the A-Z of Sisters Guild here
do you think we can still have a picnic in november??? :)
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